NEWSTEC, Brighton, England, U.K. - 21 May 2001 - Agfa announced that The Irish Times has chosen to transition to a fully automated workflow with the Agfa Polaris computer-to-plate system and IntelliNet Series 2 workflow. Agfa's new-generation IntelliNet system will allow The Irish Times to automate production from editorial to printing. The new workflow will include two Polaris 200 platesetters, Agfa processors and plates as well as the full suite of IntelliNet automation modules. "There are two main reasons why we chose Agfa. First, the company provides the full complement of products and services we require. One source, one contact eliminates conflicts and simplifies our job," said The Irish Times' Technology and Resources Director Seamus McCague. "Second, the Polaris delivers the required capacity and reliably. We know this because before making the final decision, we visited Corriere della Sera in Italy, and were very impressed with the ease of operation and productivity." With an average daily circulation of 120,000, the paper will take full advantage of the Polaris platesetter's 200-plate-per-hour capacity. The system's resolution flexibility will allow the operators to further maximise productivity. Using the IntelliNet workflow the The Irish Times will connect its editorial group in Dublin to its central facility and its printing plant located just outside the city. IntelliNet NewsFlow will automate production planning, which includes importing plans from the Hermes front-end system. NewsFlow accepts PostScript, PDF and TIFF files. A tracking feature allows the operator to monitor and control the complete process. Other automated features include page pairing and merging, plate annotation and softproofing. Included in the system are IntelliNet News RIPs, which are based on Agfa's high-performance Apogee PDF RIPs. IntelliNet NewsDrive will send the processed files to the Polaris platesetters or any other output device-proofer, imagesetter, etc. Another benefit for the The Irish Times will be the ability to generate barcodes on the fly for process annotations. IntelliNet's InkSet module will calculate ink values and interface with MAN Roland's Pecom system to deliver accurate ink-key settings. Among the IntelliNet Series 2 newest capabilities is WebTrack, Agfa's Web-based global production tracking and proofing solution. This will give personnel at the main facility or anywhere in the organisation a complete, secure overview of the entire production run via a standard Web browser running on a Windows or Macintosh platform. The Irish Times will transition to a fully automated CtP workflow in two phases. In phase one IntelliNet will process and drive complete pages to existing imagesetters. In phase two, Tiff6 G4 files will be transmitted from the main facility to the Polaris systems at the printing site. IntelliNet will integrate the complete workflow including non-Agfa devices. For Agfa The Irish Times represents the second major CtP newspaper installation in Ireland, positioning the company as the current market leader.